Now more than ever, we need pioneering solutions and technologies that can change the world. We’re looking for innovators, grassroots organisations, sustainable projects and ideas from every corner of the world.
Are you ready to make your mark? Submissions for the #ZayedSustainabilityPrize 2021 cycle are now open: http://bit.ly/zayedsustainabilityprize_2021
Tesla vehicles are now confirmed to be used in Elon Musk’s Boring Company Loop project to create an electric people mover at Las Vegas’ massive convention center.
You can watch them break through the first tunnel in real time.
Last year, we reported on the Boring Company announcing a new proposed “Loop” system of tunnels for approval in Las Vegas.
A new generation of autonomous robots is helping plant breeders shape the crops of tomorrow.
Next week, the European Space Agency is going to jettison a cubesat called Qarman from the International Space Station and watch it burst into a fireball as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere—all on purpose.
What’s the mission: Qarman (short for “QubeSat for Aerothermodynamic Research and Measurements on Ablation”) is a shoebox-sized experiment meant to help researchers better understand the physics at play when objects plummet into the planet’s atmosphere and burn up. Qarman was brought up to the ISS in December during a cargo resupply mission. On February 17, it will be cast back out into space and begin slowly drifting toward Earth before entering the atmosphere and burning up in about six months.
Tell me more: Qarman has four solar-cell-covered panels that are designed to increase atmospheric drag and hasten reentry. Its nose is made from a special kind of cork that’s typically used in thermal protection systems on spacecraft. Ground testing shows that when the cork heats up, it chars and flakes away a bit at a time. The Qarman team is interested in learning how this process works during reentry.
Innovation comes from all ages, and this is further seen in the story of Xóchitl Guadalupe Cruz, an eight-year-old girl from Chiapas, Mexico who invented an entirely solar-powered device for heating water. The impact her invention could have on others around the world is immense, and this has inspired the UNAM’s (National Autonomous University of Mexico) Institute of Nuclear Sciences to award her.
To those in developed countries, her invention may not seem all that revolutionary as access to warm or hot water is commonplace, but for those in many other areas of the world, including her town in Mexico, this would be a luxury.
Cruz’s device was inspired by the desire to reduce deforestation and pollution by replacing the need to cut logs for heating water, which is the primary method used in her part of the world. Cruz furthers her commitment to environmentally sound practices by utilizing recycled materials to build her device.
Antidepressant-soil.
Soil microbes have been found to have similar effects on the brain as prozac, without the negative side effects and potential for chemical dependency and withdrawal.
It turns out getting in the garden and getting dirty is a natural antidepressant due to unique microbes in healthy organic soil. Working and playing in soil can actually make you happier and healthier.
What gardeners and farmers have talked about for millennia is now verifiable by science. Feeling like your garden or farm is your happy place is no coincidence!
Circa 2016 o.o
Americans dump 251 million tons of trash annually into landfills. Bike seat ripped? Toss it. Hole in the old garden hose? Get rid of it. Spandex not tucking in your tummy? Loose it and replace it. This linear process of extracting a resource, processing it, selling it than discarding it is creating a mound of trash dangerously equivocal to the ball of trash in Futurama episode 8 season 1.
Why Plastic Sucks
Bike seats, garden hoses and spandex are all comprised of polyurethane, the most common and environmentally destructive plastic. The Newsweek article, Plastic-Eating Fungi That Could Solve Our Garbage Problem, notes that the only way to get rid of polyurethane is incarceration, which releases harmful gases into our ecosystem. If plastic is left abandoned in the landfill or ocean, Ultraviolet light from the sun or waves break down the material into harmful microplastic particles. In the ocean, this broken down plastic first poisons the marine life then the people who consumed it. The process of breaking down such materials in landfills emits methane, a green house gas 23 times more potent than CO2, according to the Modern Farm article, Plastic-Eating Mushrooms Could Save the World. Additionally, per the Newsweek article, David Schwatzman, Proffessor of Biology at Howard University remarks,” Landfills are sources of serious problems.
O.o.
About 2.2 billion people in the world do not have access to drinking water services that are managed safely.
Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Andy Levin have introduced a new bill that would build a national infrastructure for electric vehicles.
The EV Freedom Act would allocate the resources for the U.S. to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers within five years, Reuters reports. That would alleviate a major hurdle to widespread electric car adoption, making it far easier for the population to transition away from gas power.
Posted in biotech/medical, health, sustainability
Reverse disease following Dean Ornish’s program.
The Ornish channel is designed to help people improve their health through learning about sustainable lifestyle changes, while also connecting with others on…
